Most international discussion of Chinese Internet censorship focuses on only one layer: the filtering or "blocking" of websites. My paper aims to shed light "on another part of China’s Internet censorship system: The process of domestic Web site censorship by which domestically hosted content is deleted completely or prevented from being published in the first place. The whole process is carried out almost entirely by employees of Internet companies, not by “Internet police” or other government officials. This study focuses specifically on one small piece of this domestic censorship system: How blog service providers (BSPs) censor blogs written by their Chinese users."

The abstract:

"This study explores an under-studied layer of Chinese Internet censorship: how Chinese Internet companies censor user–generated content, usually by deleting it or preventing its publication. Systematic testing of Chinese blog service providers reveals that domestic censorship is very decentralized with wide variation from company to company. Test results also showed that a great deal of politically sensitive material survives in the Chinese blogosphere, and that chances for its survival can likely be improved with knowledge and strategy. The study concludes that choices and actions by private individuals and companies can have a significant impact on the overall balance of freedom and control in the Chinese blogosphere."

Comments

This is a very interesting study and outlines many ingenious methods of using computer technology to reverse some the Chinese "social computing" wave.

These methods of blog censorship also follow the longtime Chinese (maybe Asian) strategy of punishing a group for the transgressions of an individual. I see similarities to the use of the "Granny Police", who have red armbands, patrolling and enforcing laws from littering to spitting to enforcing birth control quotas. A woman's danwei (work unit) would be punished if she gave birth not accounted for on their quota.

Overzealous enforcement of rules in China, such as forced abortions and worse, used in birth control quotas, was viewed as a necessary evil in the march towards the overall goal. Too much is not as bad as too little. This also seems true for blog censorship.

It should be no surprise that the philosophy of the control used for blog censorship have also been the same tried and proven methods used by the CCP to control other aspects of Chinese life. It should also be no surprise that some of the side effects of these control philosophies are also evident when we study blog censorship. If you ran a blog host provider in China would you risk the wrath of the CCP?

A study of the underlying attitudes of blog host providers is needed. Do these admins really believe in blog censorship for the good of China, or are their actions due to fear of reprisal from the CCP?

Censorship goes both ways. There are many anti-China blogs that gets censored also. One of the more famous China blog sites is www.pekingduck.org. I post like 10 postings and only 1 posting actually shows up. I'm sure that many times people post things that are Anti-US postings in some anti-China website, see how fast to see if that posting gets deleted.

Having grown up in UK I find the whole concept of censorship rather frightening; from an ethical and legal perspective I abhor it.
Is it naive to think that at some point China must allow it's people to be more open in sharing their beliefs, thoughts and views?